UK multinational Arup confirmed as victim of HK$200 million deepfake scam that used digital version of CFO to dupe Hong Kong employee
- Major engineering company Arup says it was victim of scam revealed in February in which Hong Kong employee transferred HK$200 million in funds to swindlers
- Sophisticated scam first of its kind in city, police say, with digital recreations of company staff appearing in video conference to convince victim
Hong Kong police did not reveal the name of the company involved when they reported the scam in February, but London-based design and engineering firm Arup said on Friday it was the victim. The force had said it was the first time officers in the city had encountered a bogus video conference call being used in such a scheme.
An employee in the Hong Kong branch’s finance department had received a phishing message in mid-January that appeared to be from the company’s CFO based in the United Kingdom saying a secret transaction had to be carried out, according to police.
The staff member joined a video conference with what he thought were the company’s CFO and other representatives, and was given instructions to make 15 transfers totalling HK$200 million to five bank accounts over a week in January.
“Back in January we notified the police about an incident of fraud in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, we can’t go into details at this stage as the incident is still the subject of an ongoing investigation,” an Arup spokesman said.
“Our financial stability and business operations were not affected and none of our internal systems were compromised.”
